Chapter 58: A Tale of Two Villages

Scoring a meeting with lethal raiders wasn't exactly what Steve assumed would happen outright, but he couldn't say that he wasn't excited about the outcome.

After waiting for the commotion in the village to die down, the three of them met back up with Andvari and Malgun, sharing the news of their brief interaction with the supposed leader of the illagers. They found themselves approaching the "maw-shaped" cave in question, and were left utterly baffled by the fact that the entryway to what they'd potentially been searching for was so brazenly out in the open.

Whether the mobs realized it or not, it was rather bizarre that they didn't fully consider the potential of there being a secret entrance to the local cave systems somewhere above ground. Staring at the agreed-upon location, it was clear to see the differences between the actual, natural side of the mountain and the entrance that had been carved into it. While Steve was able to recognize that the entrance was clearly hidden by what seemed to be stone "doors" of some kind, with real stone to boot, it was stumping him a bit to consider how exactly the "door" functioned. How would it open? Placing a hand against the surface of the entrance proved that the stone it was composed of was certainly real, but how did it work?

"This is the place, right?" He quietly asked, turning to face the others with confusion written on his face. "This door isn't normal, do you think that magic makes it like this, or something else?"

Herobrine shrugged at his question, his hands coming to rest on his hips as he stared up at the top of the entrance, looking for something that would answer his question.

"Magic, or an elaborate, mechanical device. We'll see soon enough, so it's nothing we have to really concern ourselves with."

"I know that, but…it's interesting. I'm just wondering if a thing like this can be made and used somewhere else." Steve said, slightly rolling his eyes as he continued to examine the entrance. "It's smart, regardless."

"Hiding in plain sight is a choice, but given that we quite literally looked everywhere else and still missed this, I can only agree." Herobrine said, the smallest bit of defeat in his tone.

A bit of a hum escaped the mouth of Constiere, who walked up to the entrance and gave it a quick knock with the back of his right knuckle.

"If the space behind this is hollow though, it'd be easy to break into with a quick explosion. Just saying."

Herobrine gave him a small nod.

"We're fully aware of that, but keep in mind, we need to place ourselves on their good side. For now, at least. Destroying their protective doorway might prompt unnecessary hostilities."

With a sigh of disappointment, Constiere hung his head and walked away from the door, hands coming to rest on his hips as he placed enough distance between himself and the entrance.

"At least we can call our search off, right?"

"Again, for now. We don't know what the illagers want from us, and we don't know entirely what we can gain from them. Once we do, we'll take things from there." Herobrine explained.

"Keeping our forces on standby would be the better option, I feel." Andvari spoke up, glancing around their dark surroundings. "We may not have had any luck with the search, but our forces might need to remain vigilant."

"Agreed." Malgun chimed in, keeping a fair bit of distance away from the door.

Before anyone else could continue the conversation, the sound of multiple, hidden mechanics came to their ears, though very much muffled. With the sound of rock being dragged upon coarse sand, the cavern doorway opened wide as if it were like any regular door, revealing nothing but a tunnel of pure darkness and the potential promise of something waiting for them at the very end of it. Though they saw no figure, no sign of life before them, as the door opened fully and paused its movements, a voice echoed through the cave, its owner close, yet far away.

"Hope the wait wasn't grueling! We're ready for ya now!" Came what seemed to be the voice of the illager woman who had spoken to them before, notably more energized.

With a wave of his hand, Herobrine began leading the group forward.

"Let's get what we can from this meeting, and discuss our options from there. We shouldn't dawdle for-"

"-Hold it!" The voice came once again. "I'm hearing too many footsteps down here, and frankly speaking, I'm more interested in having a private conversation. We, as a whole, are only interested in speaking with authority. Lose the entourage, and then we'll start talking in earnest!"

As the other's words continued to echo off of the walls, the briefest looks of suspicion were shared amongst the group before protests immediately followed.

"Lose the-huh?!" Constiere gestured wildly to the doorway, staring in disbelief. "So it's divide and conquer, right?"

A smirk grew on Herobrine's face at the suggestion, his eagerness growing rather apparent.

"Exactly. Or…and if I may be giving them too much credit for this like someone I know, I apologize, but…maybe they're actually willing to speak with us?" Herobrine suggested, though, there was clear evidence of a somewhat mocking tone in his voice, his grin shifting toward being mischievous in nature.

Steve glanced at him, somewhat unamused.

"...If you're just here to make fun of me and how I look at things, I'm perfectly fine with being the 'entourage' that stays back. Way back."

Herobrine shook his head.

"I'm not trying to ridicule you entirely. Only a fair amount. Besides, though that one raider happened to feel my presence, it's likely that you were briefly spotted. Your eyes are quite distinct, they're easy to spot from a distance."

"Yours too!...?" Steve replied, finding himself somewhat surprised by the fact that he felt just a tad bit offended.

"In any case, I'd much rather prefer that you come alongside me, and the rest of us remain here by the entrance." Herobrine paused, holding a hand up as first confusion, then the immediate desire to argue appeared on the rest of the group's faces. "Andvari, your suggestion makes the most sense. I need you all to gather your forces and try to surround the area and hopefully check more around the caves closest to the illager ravine. Don't stop our previous search completely, however, just shift our priorities a bit. Should things go south, I'd really love for us to be able to have a…well, a counter-offer ready, if you will."

Constiere looked at him for a moment before a mischievous grin grew slowly on his face.

"...I got it! Count on us, sir!" He said excitedly, giving the other a salute.

"I'll assist with the others." Andvari said, looking briefly over to Malgun, who nodded.

"As for why I'm asking you to join me…" Herobrine brought his attention back to Steve. "The village already seems to be involving the champions, and we can use that to our advantage. Should the illagers believe they can use us somehow in order to combat those fools, we can potentially find more opportunities to investigate their control over the area and whether or not they know where the portal is."

"So I'm going to offer myself up as a champion for them to use for their own…well, purposes?" Steve asked, his tone teetering on the edge of being nervous.

Noting the uncertainty in his eyes, Herobrine paused, briefly glancing back to the edge of the cave before shaking his head.

"Not in truth. Act as if that's the case, but remember, we're here to carry out our goals, and our goals alone. Don't feel the need to do their bidding if it disturbs you, alright?"

With slight relief, Steve nodded in response, his shoulders relaxing as he realized that they'd gotten a bit tense without him being fully aware of it. A momentary silence fell upon them, but it was interrupted by the illager at the end of the tunnel clapping her hands twice, the echo briefly causing Steve to flinch due to its abruptness.

"We ain't got all night, and if I'd like to take a guess, you don't have that much time to be messing around, here! Come on down!"

At that comment, Herobrine's eyebrows rose in brief surprise, glancing to the tunnel as he began to move forward.

"...Odd. Sounds like she has ideas of what we'd possibly be here for."

Steve began to follow after him.

"...Great." He said in a sigh, the implications of that one thought threatening to throw his nerves back on high alert.

Walking down into the depths of the tunnel, Steve found himself slightly turning his head with every echoed footstep that came to his ears, feeling only slightly silly as he realized that they were only originating from them. While there were torches present in the tunnel, all of them were rather faint in their glow, somewhat reddened, even, making it rather hard to glance around properly in the dim light, though he supposed that Herobrine was having no troubles in that regard. The cavern itself was fairly simple; apart from the door that seemed fairly magical to his perception regarding how its secret mechanics worked, there was nothing else that particularly stood out about the place. All of the ores seemed to have been excavated ages ago, and the longer they walked, the more apparent it was that the tunnel only led to one place and one place only; there were no winding paths or alternative routes to follow, only a single path downward into the earth.

"You know, you'd think that because their door system was so…well, advanced, they'd have something else waiting for us in here, right?" Steve whispered, earning a bit of an intrigued expression from Herobrine in response.

"Like what? Armoured guards? Traps?"

Steve shrugged.

"Something like that. Maybe even a different tunnel to lead people away?"

"They likely closed any other routes off here. Just like they most likely did to the other caves in this area as well. All signs are pointing to a solid lead here."

Feeling hopeful, Steve gave a small hum in response.

Eventually, they found themselves reaching the far end of the tunnel as yellow light began to pour in, seemingly from proper torches. As the cave began to open up, a figure soon came across their path, as did the sight of the ravine that they'd spotted from up above.

The illager who seemed to go by the name of "Iluz" stood before them, axe laid casually behind her shoulders with her arms resting upon it, appearing as laid-back as possible as she appraised them in the semi-dark. Her hair remained essentially the same as they last saw it, long, black, and messily braided, but some of the hairs that had fallen over her grey-tinted face had been pushed back. The frenzy had clearly left her eyes, but as she trailed her gaze over their appearance, they were filled with what seemed to be amusement instead.

"...Well, I'm not entirely convinced that the farmer over there isn't a part of your entourage, but what do I know?" She said with a bit of a shrug, making it clear enough who she initially intended to converse with.

"Correct. What do you know?" Herobrine retorted, though his words seemed to have little effect on the illager. "You're 'Iluz,' yes?"

"The one and only. Apologies for letting you eavesdrop on that conversation in the village earlier. It won't happen again, I promise." She said with a grin. "What are you waiting on, a written invitation? Come forward, and mind the audience."

Iluz nodded her head over to the opening of the ravine, turning to lead them forward as she walked on ahead. Without much hesitation, the two continued forward as well.

The ravine, somehow, seemed much bigger from the inside as they exited the short tunnel, coming across what seemed to be a village in its own right. As they saw from up above, multiple holes had been dug into the walls of the ravine to make space for living, though, as they now found themselves on the lowest layer of the ravine, it was clear enough that there were even more "homes" than they originally thought, as the first sight that came upon them were multitudes upon multitudes of armed illagers, filling the air with countless sounds of chatter, the sound of sharpening tools, and, amusingly enough, the distant sound of ravagers and other sorts of unseen beasts.

"Welcome to the city of Dawn's Depths! Where community comes together in spite of whatever those dumbasses up above try to do to our home! We share what we got, and whatever we got we like to share! Want a bed? ASK OR MAKE YER OWN! Want a room to sleep in? DIG INTO THE WALL, WE DON'T CARE! Just mind other people's rooms, ya know? You dig into theirs by accident, just close the hole." Iluz introduced, nodding her head over to various parts of the ravine as she spoke.

"We're not planning on an extended stay." Herobrine said bluntly, earning a roll of the shoulders from Iluz.

"Sheesh! Not one for hospitality, huh?"

As Steve found himself captivated by the sight around them, a small whisper came to his ears as he found his brother drawing a bit nearer, allowing Iluz to guide them forward a bit farther away.

"Keep by my side. Evidently we're outnumbered, and it, quite obviously, pleases them to see that, and know that we're aware of it too."

Steve met his gaze, giving him a quick nod in response.

"Wasn't planning on anything else."

"Good. The bloodlust here is palpable, and I'm certain that they wouldn't mind getting an opportunity to get another potential win in. Hospitality my ass."

What seemed like hundreds of emerald green eyes fell upon them as they continued to walk through, cautiously glancing around at their surroundings. While Herobrine remained completely calm, his posture tall and presence commanding, Steve was visibly more unnerved by the situation. Herobrine's gaze remained forward and stern, refusing to give the illagers even the illusion of control over the situation, while Steve, on the other hand, couldn't help but occasionally glance around, looking out for any sudden attacks or implications of malice. Though he heard bits and pieces of various comments coming in their direction, they were too faint, too cautious, for him to hear properly, though he could only guess that they were words of mockery, if the smug smiles on the illagers' faces were anything to go off on. Despite their clear enjoyment of the situation, however, it was evident that something, whether it was fear, concern, or, if he could be hopeful, respect, kept them from directly approaching them both.

Approaching the far end of the ravine where Iluz had guided them forward, Herobrine and Steve were met with a smile on her face as she glanced at them, then took a sweeping glance around at the illagers around them, a small chuckle escaping her lips as she her hands in a dismissive motion.

"Calm yourselves! We're not exactly entirely merciless, we serve our own gods and lords, all the same. Show your due deference, we have a god before us, and it's actually one we personally give a shit about!"

At that mention, both Herobrine and Steve's eyes widened in response as they gave each other a brief look, some confusion arising on their features before returning back to the illager before them. She met their expressions with a small scoff.

"Oh come on, don't act surprised we find you familiar." She focused her gaze entirely on Herobrine, burying the head of her axe in the ground beside her and crossing her arms over her chest.

"White eyes that glow, for the most part. You can hide them behind that sword silver however you wish, but there's no mistaking that glow."

Neither Steve nor Herobrine had realized that the latter's true gaze had slipped out at some point.

Iluz took a step forward, beginning to circle him as she continued her evaluation.

"A presence that speaks of the Nether; oppressive, almost breath-stealing. The nights here have been empty, of mobs and other beasts alike, and though your voice is quiet now, I heard it days prior. Commanding and all-powerful, yet…remarkably human all the same."

Iluz gave him a knowing grin, grabbing the handle of her weapon once again and lowering her head in an almost lazy bow. "Lord Herobrine, god of…what, 'Imitation,' was it? Though mobs we may not be, we respect you, nonetheless."

As Iluz raised her head, Herobrine gathered his bearings before opening his mouth to speak.

"So you knew exactly who I was before summoning me here. I can only assume that means that you have a deeper reason for doing so." He raised a brow as he finished. "Also...human?"

Iluz gave a quick "Ha!" before continuing.

"Only someone with vague human tendencies would let a man like the one beside you tag along to walk straight into an illager camp like this. The farmer might be far from home, don't you think?"

"-First of all, I'm not a farmer!" Steve interrupted. "I'm a miner-"

"-Same difference. Both professions that are unused to seeing conflict. Real conflict, I mean, from thinking creatures. With actual capacity for battle."

Both Herobrine and Steve glared at Iluz for the comment. However, it was Herobrine who spoke up first.

"I, personally, find that rather offensive. My forces are very much capable of battle, mind you." Herobrine briefly nodded over to Steve as he continued. "This one, we're working on."

As Steve let out a brief noise of offense, Iluz met his comment with a sharp bark of a laugh.

"HA! My apologies, then! But let's get back on track. Yes, I have my reasons for speaking with you. First, let's separate ourselves from the riff-raff. Not a secret stays alive in this place by design, but I'd love for us to avoid extra commentators. Especially since I have a feeling that we're going to be doing a bit of negotiating."

As Iluz began to lead them toward a nearby cavern room, she waved off their current audience with a swing of her axe.

"Away! The whole bunch of you! Important business to discuss, and last I remember, you guys need to prep our 'new recruits,' don't you?!"

A few shouts of acknowledgment met their ears before they stepped away, earning a small nod from Iluz in response.

"You won't find cooperation like that in most illager camps, you know. We're well-organized, just like you and your army, you know?"

The three stepped into a large cavern space, one that was filled with various different tables, fabrics, and weapons, most likely a command center, if either of the two brothers had to take a guess. Various sheets of paper containing what appeared to be plans of some sort laid strewn across the tables, only partially organized. Close to the walls of the space were quite a few blankets and makeshift pillows formed from what seemed to be mismatched bundles of wool, making it apparent that the cave was very much well-lived in.

Walking up to one of the central wooden tables, Iluz flashed them a smirk as she turned her attention fully upon them once again.

"So, how was the wait, truly? I didn't ask just for the sake of it. Not too long, I hope?"

Herobrine looked at her, unamused.

"...Enough with the pleasantries." He said, his voice a bit more firm. "Why did you want to meet with us? Beyond that, why are you taking notice of me and my movements in the first place? Besides any obvious implications, I mean."

"Ah. Lack of audience, lack of forced faces, I see. Well, nothing much to do about that, I guess. The reason why I wanted to meet you is simple. I felt your magic, your unique pull-" Iluz illustrated the word with a tug of her fist. "-and, simply put, I wanted to have a chat."

"-That's hardly a proper explanation-"

"-I'm not entirely finished. You want to know the reason why we've come to take notice of you? Well, it's even simpler." Iluz pointed at Herobrine. "We know what happened in that dreadful kingdom. Though welcome we might not be, a few of our own scouts manage to make their way into the alleyways of the main hub from time to time, and they happened to witness your grandstanding, so to speak. We knew of you from the occasional few whispers around the realm, but it wasn't until then that we got a glimpse of what you actually were like."

As she finished, Herobrine raised a brow at her.

"And what was the image of me that you gathered?"

Iluz smirked at him, amused.

"I've yet to make my full conclusions, but what I managed to preview, I see a fellow rebel. One who challenges the gods, yet shares traces of their blood. Not so different from us, in our own little 'rebellious' ways."

"Not just traces, mind you." Herobrine interjected. "I'm a god in my own right, but yes, I opposed them. Fully. I am their enemy, and they are mine."

Though Herobrine was set on continuing, Steve found himself catching on to the illager's words, a bit of confusion rising within him as he thought her statement over.

"...Wait, 'not so different from us,' you said?" Steve met her gaze briefly.

Iluz shrugged.

"Illagers are able to actually connect with the divines' one and only gift of natural magic. That magic you can see any of us wield clear as day. The divines don't particularly enjoy that fact, but they can't do anything about it! Unfortunately for them, mortals are able to stand toe-to-toe with them in terms of power, divines in our own right! I'd even go so far as to say that we're your Overworldian cousins, Lord Herobrine."

At her suggestion. Herobrine let out a small scoff.

"Please don't."

Iluz shrugged.

"Evidence surely points to the contrary, but whatever. Finding a kindred spirit is enough. The point is that you're able to resist the divines themselves and that you don't follow them blindly. That means you have good judgment, much more than the idiots above the surface, in any case."

With an agreeing nod, Herobrine let out a small hum.

"About that, actually. What exactly is taking you so long to dispose of those idiots, as you say? You'd think that with your kind of strength, the job would've already been handled by now, right?"

Iluz shrugged at his comment.

"Yeah. If we actually had any intention of finishing them off, it'd already be handled by now. But we don't, that's the issue."

"But why?" Steve asked quietly, earning a small glance from the illager in response.

Instead of immediately answering their shared question, Iluz brought her weapon down from where she'd been holding it, placing it on the nearby table and stepping away in order to grab something that had been outside of their vision. Upon returning to the table, they found that she'd grabbed a small, slightly dirtied white rag, which she soon started to clean her axe with carefully.

"For starters, we want them to call off that champion summon. We know that the champions have already started to attempt to make their way here, but we managed to enclose their closest stronghold to delay that from happening. The problem is that our methods won't work forever, and eventually, some of them are gonna manage to break through and make their way here, unfortunately. We could still kill the other half of the village, sure, but what's that going to do other than convince the champions to go through with launching an attack before we're ready? We hope that the sight of a destroyed village will put them off, but we're not banking on that completely."

At the mention of a stronghold, Steve's eyes slightly widened in recognition, and though he couldn't exactly see his brother's expression directly from where he was standing, he could only imagine that Herobrine came across the same idea that he had.

They'd just recently come across the same stronghold. Steve, in particular, likely came across one of the illagers that had come from the ravine, though he hadn't been spotted.

"...To be quite honest, your reasoning sounds rather flawed, and you're right to not bank on one idea entirely." Herobrine started. "The sight of a destroyed village won't do anything to put those fools off; I think it'll just outright encourage them to seek revenge for the fallen immediately, just as killing them all would. You're dealing with a bunch of wannabe-heroes and do-gooders; you're at a disadvantage no matter what you do here."

Iluz took in his words with a shrug.

"Well, we know that now, but still. We've really dug ourselves into a corner with this one, running with the plan is what we just have to do now."

Herobrine rolled his eyes a bit at her resignation, though he kept his expression rather composed.

"Anyways, you said that was only your first explanation? What else were you planning?"

"...Yes, I was about to get to that! First, we want them to drive the champions away themselves, yeah. Second, well…that requires some further explanation."

She left them in brief silence before continuing.

"As you probably heard out there and concluded yourself, this place used to just be one massive village." Iluz began, looking over the surface of her weapon carefully before continuing to clean it. "Generations upon generations of folks stayed right there on the plains, making do with everything that we had in order to serve one, just one, purpose."

"That purpose being…?" Herobrine asked.

Iluz gave him a brief smirk before continuing.

"Protecting portals. Specifically, we were tasked with being a Guardian Stronghold. And before you ask, that basically means we control the choke point between the outside world and the gateway into the one realm that the fabric of our reality relies on the most; the End Dimension."

Joy. Pure, relentless joy quickly flooded Steve's system at the revelation, a strange sense of relief chasing after it immediately afterward. It took him clenching his fists to an unsettling degree in order to prevent himself from revealing his true feelings on the matter, to prevent it from reflecting on his face.

"Is that so?" Herobrine asked in turn, stepping in a bit closer to prevent Iluz from viewing Steve directly, which brought a bit of embarrassment to him as he realized that he hadn't been entirely hiding himself as decently as he had hoped he'd been.

"Yup. Unfortunately, our village didn't exactly agree on what to do about the portal. As you heard, folks up on the surface think that we shouldn't be getting involved, and that we need to 'focus on trade' and whatever, like we're normal." Iluz sneered. "They want nothing to do with the portal at all. They want nothing to do with our culture! They want things easy, they think that the world is just gonna allow us to live if they cut ties, or whatever. We don't want to kill them outright because…well, regardless of what's become of us, they're kin. Unfortunately, if we don't kill them, the rest of the world, particularly the divines and their so-called 'champions,' will."

As Herobrine waited for her to continue speaking, Steve let out a small hum at her words.

"Villages don't do well with the 'taboo.'" He said quietly, earning a small chuckle from Iluz in response.

"Right on. If it isn't ignored, it's purposefully hidden away, no matter the cost." Iluz let out another small huff. "Our trading routes have already been dismantled, and that was just due to rumours about our purpose leaking out. But that doesn't matter, apparently. Our kin summoned the champions anyway and fully intended on leading them straight to the portal. What happens afterward doesn't matter to them. They just want to get back into Lunarus' good graces again, for trade!"

Briefly slamming her fist on the table, Iluz went silent in anger before letting out a quick breath, resuming her cleaning. A small, dark chuckle escaped her lips.

"They forget their roots; should the divines, or even the champions themselves, realize the rumours of the origins of our settlement are entirely true, they'll be slaughtered for their knowledge, along with the rest of us. This, of course, is where our negotiations are going to come in." Iluz said with a grin, finishing with her weapon and placing it off to the side of the table.

"I want you to use your strength, your army, to help keep the champions busy. We're doing everything we can, but we need more help. The closer they get to our village, the more danger we're all in. The idiots above are going to offer access to the portal in exchange for divine favor! I'm assuming you've already been alerted to the fact that the champions are trying to force their way through dimensions, yeah? They're gonna go in without caution and it's going to ruin everything! Everyone's worse off for it, so you're going to do something about it anyway, right?"

Herobrine kept quiet at first, taking in her request, though he couldn't help but let a bit of curiosity appear on his face.

"And what's the counteroffer? What do you offer us in return? If your scouts truly saw what occurred in Lunarus, you can only make so many assumptions about what we'd potentially want as a reward."

Iluz nodded her head slowly at his words, closing her eyes with resignation.

"Believe me when I say that I weighed the options heavily. In fact, I'm still weighing them now." Iluz opened her eyes, fixating on Herobrine directly. "You need to make a deal with me. With us. As much as I would just love to hand the portal over to you, I think we're both aware of the potential consequences of that."

Expression dropping into a neutral, yet slightly upset expression, Herobrine nodded his head in response.

"The least of which being the champions themselves. How about we discuss our options, together?"

Iluz thought about his offer for a moment before giving a reluctant shrug.

"We could do that now, but what about the champions? Who knows how long we'd take down here, talking about details, and all that? We have a base offer, sure, but specifics are specifics! They could be right on our doorstep, and we wouldn't know about it until everybody outside is already rushing out to fight!"

Herobrine gave her a small smile at the request.

"That's where our miner comes in." He said, turning back briefly and placing a hand on Steve's shoulder. "Steven himself was already dubbed as a 'Champion,' if you must know. He's already capable of blending in with them, and-"

"-Brine, uh…can I just mention one thing?" Steve held a finger up, expression wary. "That stronghold we were talking about? That might be the same one that me and Constiere got stuck near."

"Meaning that you're already aware of what they bring to a fight. Can you recall what you experienced?"

Steve blinked, his body somewhat tensing up at the recent memory of having been attacked in the dark.

"They...well, they use arrows that were coated in poison. Strong poison. I…I don't think normal people would last long, if they were hit."

"And you aren't normal?" Iluz raised a brow at him.

"Not in the technical sense, no." Herobrine answered for him, meeting Iluz's gaze with a neutral one of his own. "He has certain healing abilities that prevented him from dying outright, but it still wasn't enough to protect him from the more brutal effects. Should the champions attack, they'll likely attack by using those."

"They're also looking for us,-" Steve gestured between him and Herobrine. "-Specifically. They have the tools needed to deal with both of us, permanently, so consider that, too."

Iluz nodded her head slowly at the information, looking briefly towards the ground in thought before meeting their gaze once again.

"Good to know. Your plan to send him out is just as awful as mine, but hey, what do I know? Even if they try to kill you outright, that'll at least buy us some time, so why not try it?"

The thought alone of facing the champions, of getting hit again by their arrows, caused a deep chill to run down Steve's spine as a sort of phantom numbness spread through the rest of his body. It felt nauseating to think about the possibility of losing all feeling, of putting his body through more fatal conditions before it was properly ready.

"-Well, the plan actually differs from that, a bit." Herobrine said, giving Steve's shoulder a bit of a squeeze, drawing his attention away from his overwhelming thoughts, briefly. "Steve would mostly just focus on talking to the villagers themselves. The champions we know would most likely be more hostile toward him, so if we can avoid confrontations outright, that'd be best for now. If they're more oblivious, however, he'd be able to blend in, at least, if the champions aren't coming from the same stronghold that we encountered, of course."

Iluz thought over his words for a moment, skepticism appearing on her features as she looked over Steve once again. Feeling the pressure to defend his own case but failing to find the words to do so, he took a quick breath before giving the other a small smile.

Iluz looked over at him for a couple more seconds before giving a quick shrug.

"Alright. Avoid the champions, then."

With great relief, Steve nodded his head in response as Herobrine took his place in front of Iluz's scrutiny once again.

"Now that's settled, how long do you think it'll take for the champions to get to the general area?" Herobrine asked.

Iluz shrugged.

"It depends. We won't know that they've broken through our scout team until they're at the village's door, but regardless, we'll have to work through whatever plan we agree on fast."

"Right. Steven?" He turned toward the other. "As difficult as it could potentially be, you need to go back to the village and gain more of their trust. If all goes well, you could convince the villagers yourself to call off the need for help, but if they refuse to listen, you'd have to deal with the champions yourself. Of course, should it come to that, we'd lend a helping hand, but still. There's a battle both ways, but this is the closest we've gotten to an actual End portal; it's our only lead, and we may not have much time to put any effort into searching for another."

"So…it's this or nothing?" Steve asked carefully.

"This or abject failure."

Steve let out a small sigh.

"...I'll try to negotiate with the villagers then, if you're gonna negotiate with the illagers here."

With a nod in return, Herobrine turned back to face Iluz.

"It's settled, then. Steven will try his best to get the villagers to naturally stand down."

Iluz grinned at the both of them in response.

"Perfect! Now, let's just get started with the negotiations and the-"

"-Hold on, just for a moment." Herobrine held his hand up briefly. "I need to tell him something, just to get started with. Mind you, my generals are outside, waiting for the results of our conversation, and it'd be rude of us to just…well, leave them there."

Iluz looked at him for a moment before shrugging, waving them off briefly.

"Go on, then. The more we wait to start, the more dire the situation gets!"

Herobrine gave her a swift nod before returning his hand to Steve's shoulder, turning him around and moving him more toward the entrance of the cave.

"Tell the others that we've located the portal's general whereabouts." He said, keeping his voice low and quiet. "Tell them that they're to keep watch for the approaching champions, and that they should attempt to hold them back as much as possible, should they find them. If the illagers don't make good on their promise, then have them know that they need to be ready to force their way through. We don't have time to search for other portals, and we still need to make sure that we have what we need, specifically, in order to do what we need to do. They need to be on standby for whatever might occur, good or bad. Those are my orders."

Steve, without much hesitation, nodded in response.

"I'll let them know. They'll be ready."

"Good. Should anything go south outside of the ravine, I'll try to help in whatever way I can, but don't necessarily count on it. Keep safe, I'll work out the specifics of our little arrangement here so that we'll walk out of this with some kind of potential victory."

Releasing Steve's shoulder, Herobrine stepped away, turning back toward Iluz with his expression firm and serious.

"Let's continue our discussion, shall we?"

Steve, not wanting to intrude any further, left the cavern room, making his way back to the entrance of the ravine with as little eye contact with the surrounding illagers as he could muster.

Hello! Happy (laaaaaaate) New Year! I hope that y'all had a good holiday season, and that the year is not off to that completely bad of a start (though it is looking to be that way for reasons)! I got some good gifts over Christmas, and have been fully occupied with them lol (the most occupying one being a new puppy, she's a delight :D). My Winter Quarter work schedule got messed up a bit and I'm still adjusting to it, that was a bit frustrating to get figured out, but oh well lol (more than frustrating, I'm still mad about it lmao). Being a Grad student means more writing AND more reading, and while I'm totally fine with that, it's still a lot!

Now we're in the ravine! I know that I've already made it clear that Herobrine doesn't exactly have control over all of the mobs of Minecraft, but that doesn't mean that he doesn't at least earn some proper respect! Newer legend he might be, but his power isn't anything to particularly scoff at, especially not after his little stunt in Lunarus. I believe we're gonna stay here in the area for quite a while (especially with my schedule lmao), so get comfy!

Fun facts!:

1.) No, illagers do not possess divine blood, nor actual divine magic. This concept stems from the belief that engaging with the inherent magic of the many realms, A.K.A. all of the taboo stuff that normal villagers won't even touch, essentially infuses them with the essence of the magic that brought the world to existence, thus connecting them with the divines. This is false; there is no connection being made, but their bodies are responding to the raw magic that they're coming into contact with, though it's not entirely positive. Though some illagers do manage to develop magic powers because of their engagement with natural magic, most of them just develop the grey skin, and that's pretty much that, along with some added strength. They are changed by magic, but not in a way that makes them divine.

2.) For each constructed End portal that exists with the world, there should be an assigned Guardian Stronghold, AKA a populated structure that exists to overlook the portals and make sure that they're not being used or activated without clear reason. In older times (before Maxwell's rise to power) it was actually common for demigods to be put in charge of protecting End Portals on their own (to serve an actual purpose), but they would often create settlements in order to help aid them with this process. Thanks to the new Aether's efforts, however, this practice has long since been put out of practice, with a lot of the demigods involved being purposefully erased (to prevent knowledge of End Portal locations falling into the hands of those outside of Maxwell's close circle). "Guardian Strongholds" nowadays only happen when those who know about the portals elect for themselves their own guards (often themselves), and even then, that knowledge is kept very hush-hush, lol. This place, however, is a complete anomaly! Not only is it being guarded by illagers, but these illagers were put into charge by a mortal, not any actual divine being!

3.) As previously mentioned, it's this village's illagers that are menacing the local champion stronghold, lol. The champions used to send peeps out to patrol the forests during the middle of the week, but once the illagers got a good idea of their schedule, they managed to figure out how to keep them in one spot.

4.) Unfortunately for Steve (as previously mentioned), it's entirely part of the learning curve for divines to repeatedly (either accidentally or on purpose) die and develop. There's that first initial jumpstart to the body that comes with the first death, then afterwards, a lot of clumsiness (and/or cockiness) leads to a lot of mistakes lol

That's it for now, see y'all later!